There’s a Twitter meme thing going around that looks intriguing; I decided to answer it here, in long-form, because (a) there’s more room and (b) I don’t have enough of a Twitter presence to get very far otherwise. But I’m too lazy to get screenshots, so, deal.
- Very first videogame is most likely Combat, the game that came bundled with my Atari 2600.
- Do I have a favorite character? It’s probably Wheatley from Portal 2. Also enjoyed my time with Niko Bellic in GTA 4.
- A game that is underrated…. I think Split/Second was a pretty fantastic racing game that not nearly enough people played.
- Guilty pleasure game…. I don’t know that I have one, now, unless you count my ongoing addiction to Clicker Heroes, which I’ve had running on a work browser for over a year. Or any of the Candy Crush Saga games that I still have on my iPhone. A couple years ago I would’ve said DOA Beach Volleyball, but that game started to creep me out.
- I don’t know that I’ve ever related to a video game character, because most videogame characters are trying to kill other people with guns. That said, I am virtually the same age as the player / older sister in Gone Home, and I certainly related to a lot of what she discovered as she explored her house.
- Most annoying character… how about literally everybody in every Metal Gear Solid game?
- Favorite game couple… ??? I suspect I haven’t played enough JRPGs from the mid 90s in order to properly answer this question. I’m hardpressed to think of anything I’ve played in the last 5-10 years that would satisfactorily answer this question. Well, maybe Geralt and Yennifer, from Witcher 3.
- Best soundtrack… I’m gonna go a little bit out of left field here and say Jim Guthrie’s astounding soundtrack to Sword & Sworcery, with Disasterpeace’s work for Fez as a very close runner-up. And I’ll also say that Voodoo Vince has one of the most overlooked soundtracks of all time.
- Saddest game scene… again, probably not enough JRPGs in my mental library to call anything up that fits the bill, and I’m having a hard time recalling anything else that might fit the bill. It is exceedingly rare for me to have any true and genuine emotional responses to games these days, and I don’t know if that’s me just being old or if it’s me wanting to play games for other reasons beyond narrative.
- Best gameplay… how does one answer this question in 140 characters? I have literally no idea how to even begin putting this together. Can one compare the sublime driving mechanics of Burnout Paradise with the near-perfect shooting mechanics of, say, Destiny? Is Uncharted 4‘s parkour better than Rise of the Tomb Raider? Was anything more hypnotizing than Tony Hawk Pro Skater 2? Can I cheat a little and give a nod to Batman: Arkham Asylum, if only because it did everything so unexpectedly well? Or how about Portal 2, if only because it’s still one of the most clever games ever made? I don’t know that I can answer this question fairly.
- Gaming system of choice… well, look: I loved my Sega Dreamcast.
- A game everyone should play is Portal 2. It’s funny, it’s accessible, it’s clever, it’s non-violent, and the endorphin rush you get when you solve a tough puzzle is something everyone should experience at least once.
- A game I’ve played more than 5 times… again, Portal 2. I suspect that might show up a few more times in this list. It never gets old.
- I have a Firewatch wallpaper on my PC, and an Uncharted 4 screenshot on my Mac. And I think I have a Witcher 3 theme on my PS4.
- I’m playing a dozen games right now, though I think I’m going to stick to Yakuza 0 for the next few days – I’ll hopefully have a post about it later today. I’ll need to update this answer with a suitable shot.
- Game with the best cut scenes… I’m gonna go old school and give this to Oddworld: Abe’s Exoddus, which had epic cutscenes considering the technology it was on.
- Favorite antagonist? GladOs.
- Favorite protagonist? How about Raz, from Psychonauts?
- Picture of a game setting I wish I lived in… well, I do like Nathan and Elana’s house in Uncharted 4.
- Favorite genre: 3rd person action adventure.
- Game with the best story… KOTOR.
- Game sequel which disappointed me… oh boy. I loved Mercenaries, which was an admitted GTA clone but which still had a ton of cool shit in it. Mercenaries 2, on the other hand, was a broken piece of shit. Similarly, Crackdown 2 was also a broken piece of shit.
- Best graphics or art style… as with all things, this is subjective and can be approached in a number of different ways. Uncharted 4 is the most astounding game I’ve ever seen from a technical standpoint, but Psychonauts has the most inventive art style I’ve ever seen… and stuff like Journey and Inside shouldn’t be ignored, either.
- Favorite classic game… I wonder what the creator of this list considers “classic”, or what their cut-off year is. I mean, I love me some OutRun. I love me some Streets of Rage and NBA Jam. I remember being spooked out of my mind by Haunted House on the 2600.
- A game I plan on playing… I can give you two definites as of today: Mass Effect Andromeda and Red Dead Redemption 2.
- Best voice acting… this is Portal 2, hands down, no question.
- Most “epic” scene ever… guh, I don’t know. Again, I suppose if I’d played Final Fantasy 5-9 back in the day, I’d have more of a satisfactory answer. I maintain that the big twist of KOTOR remains the biggest jaw-dropping moment of my entire game-playing life.
- Favorite game developer is a tie between Rockstar, Bioware, and DoubleFine.
- A game I thought I wouldn’t like but ended up loving… I’m gonna cheat a little here and say that I rented one of the early Tiger Woods games on the original Xbox out of boredom and ended up being obsessed with the franchise for the next 10 years.
- Favorite game of all time… goddamn, this is tough. But I suspect I’m gonna have to go back to Portal 2.
Shouts From The Couch 